The present invention relates to the maintenance of the playing holes on a golf course in general, and to a device for applying a white coating to the walls of golf holes in particular.
The holes on most golf course are repainted quite infrequently, if at all, but are customarily painted for special events such as forthcoming tournaments. Currently, they are painted by an attendant such as a greenskeeper using a hand brush. This technique requires some dexterity and considerable bending on the part of the attendant. In addition, it requires a great deal of time which makes the task rather costly. A technique which reduces the dexterity and bending required of the attendant as well as the time involved clearly would be welcome.
Spray cans of paint as well as devices for facilitating their use in awkward and unusual modes have been known for quite some time. U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,761 for example illustrates a device for actuating the valve of a pressurized container such as a spray paint can. The device allows material to be sprayed while the cntainer is in an inverted position and at arm's length. U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,195 to Silva illustrates another device for allowing paint to be sprayed from a container at arm's length. The Silva extension hand sprayer device is described as having utility in spraying a line on pavement while the user stands in an erect position.
Devices for applying a coating material to the interior of a workpiece are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,295 to Speck et al. illustrates a method and apparatus for applying a coating material to the internal threads of pipes or fittings. U.S. Pat. No. 2,343,842 to Hatcher illustrates a device for coating the interior of an ingot mold.
There is one requirement related to golf which renders most of these devices, if not all, unsuitable for painting golf holes. This requirement is that the grass surrounding the hole must not be painted.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus for painting a golf hole which does not paint the grass surrounding the hole.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus as above which provides an aesthetically pleasing, substantially uniform coating unmarred by brush marks or streaks from the earthen background in the hole.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus as above which is relatively simple to use.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus as above which reduces the amount of time required to paint each golf hole.
These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent from the following description and drawings wherein like references numerals depict like elements.